ISSUE 1 SCHOOL NEWSLETTER #14
The British International School of Marbella
NEWSLETTER A Newsletter for Parents, Students and Friends of our School
December 2016
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SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Headteacher’s Message A New Year at BISM Merry Christmas to you all! As always, December has been a fantastic month in the school, where the students have showcased their talents in festive performances and shows. The highlight being the Carol Concert in the old Town, where the Senior and Junior choir won the best vocal performance award (well-deservedly!). Even with the floods, the Christmas fair was a success, with wonderful performances and beautiful handmade crafts. The children always put so much effort into these events and it was great to see you all supporting them. The Foundation Stage got us all in the festive mood with their Christmas pantomime “Christmas Cinderella”. The performance was funny, highly entertaining and ambitious for our youngest children, but as they have proved this time and time again, they are a performing force to be reckoned with! December is always my favourite time in school and is a time which brings out the best in people. This December demonstrated our family community spirit by your support of the Hogar Betania, a non-profit organisation which supports underprivileged children in La Linea. It is uplifting to know that those children can enjoy their Christmas and I would like to sincerely thank you all for your support of such a worthy cause. Thank you to all those parents who provided feedback about the project-based homework. We have taken on board your suggestions and will be making some changes to the homework in the new year, most noticeably the removal of house points awarded for the completion of certain tasks. We will also make it optional to complete either the optional literacy and weekly numeracy task or the projects or both. Equally, children will not be penalised for not completing homework (outside of their normal spelling, reading and maths tests). This is in answer to those parents who would prefer a no homework approach completely. Hopefully, through making everything optional you can find a
level of challenge which will suit your child. Finally, it is with a heavy heart that I write my last message. I have had a wonderful time this term which I will never forget. I would like to thank all the parents and children who wrote such kind words to wish me well on my voyage. I am pleased to return the school to Miss Kirkham’s experienced hands when she returns on the 23rd January and am confident that the school will run smoothly under Mr Herron’s capable management until then. It will be wonderful to have Miss Kirkham’s drive, humour and positivity steering the ship once more. Sorry l couldn’t resist one last sailing metaphor! I wish you all the best for 2017 and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. With Best Wishes, Laura Bruce Acting Headteacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Pre-Nursery It’s a baby! The children in Pre-Nursery have been getting into the festive spirit by learning about the Christmas story. In this special version, Pre-Nursery talked all about a family who were very happy to have a new baby and how their friends brought gifts to celebrate with them. Next we got out a baby doll which the children pretended was the Baby Jesus and then had lots of fun caring for him. The children happily played together, putting a nappy onto the baby and wrapping him in a blanket to keep him warm. The children even decided that it would be a good idea for the baby to ‘sleep’ with the class toy turtle Hamley so he wouldn’t be alone. It was lovely to see such a natural, caring nature from all of the children. They have really shown that they understand that younger children need extra care and that they would be on hand to give it, even if the baby may end up being carried on someone’s shoulder. Miss Rutherford Pre-Nursery Teacher
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Nursery Snowy Shapes
During the festive season, Nursery Class created snowmen using shapes. Before making the snowmen they went on a shape hunt to consolidate their knowledge of 2D shapes. The children very sensibly walked around the school spotting hidden shapes. They looked in places some people would never think of looking and showed amazing thinking skills. When we returned from our shape hunt the children created fantastic snowmen using cut out shapes. The children used their knowledge to name all the shapes they had used in their wonderful pictures. The children also spoke about their own experiences of snow; whether they had seen, touched or played in the snow. They discussed the problems of snowmen melting and came up with some super ideas to stop them from melting. Well done Snow Shape Hunters! Miss Nixon Nursery Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Reception Show and Tell in Reception The children in Reception enjoyed getting to bring in an item of their choosing for Show and Tell. They worked hard to talk confidently in front of all their friends to show what they had brought in. Many children asked really good questions of their friends and demonstrated excellent listening skills. All the children were very excited about showing their item. There was a wide range of items being shown, including superhero figures, cuddly toys, microphones, masks, homemade pictures, shoes and trucks, just to name a few. The children are already looking forward to doing it again in term 2. Mr Holden Reception Teacher
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Year 1 Pretty Poinsettia This month in Year 1 we learned about the Legend of the Poinsettia and found out why people in Spain and Mexico give the red, star shaped flowers as gifts at Christmas. We then carefully drew and painted our own, adding glitter to give it an extra sparkle. In Literacy, we wrote beautiful poems about the Poinsettia to accompany our paintings. Merry Christmas everyone and see you in the New Year. Miss Armstrong Year One Class Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 2
Festive December What a lovely month December is, full of joy and happiness. This month in Year 2 we have been very creative making lots creative crafts based on Christmas.
We made some sock snowmen for the Winter Fair and they looked very impressive indeed. The children enjoyed using simple materials and creating something magical. Also the class made some lovely Christmas Wreaths outlining their hands on some green card and cutting them out to stick together. The children loved working together in a creative way creating Christmas crafts. Finally I would like to thank all of you parents for being so helpful and encouraging the learning taking place in the class during the first term. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first few months teaching your children at BISM. Mr Thomas Year 2 Teacher
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Year 3
December
Wow, Year 3 have been as busy as Santa’s elves this December! Firstly the class created some adorable reindeer pots for the Christmas fair. They started by painting the plain white cups with a mixture of brown paint and glue. Once the reindeer coats were dry, the children adorned the cups with shiny antlers, sparkly noses and the obligatory googly eyes. To complete their products, they filled each reindeer pot with delicious, chocolate covered popcorn. This December, Year 3 have been visited by a rather mischievous guest. Fed the Elf crashed into the classroom leaving a book called ‘Elf on the Shelf’ to explain his appearance. The children learnt that he had been sent by Santa to report, each day, on the class’ behaviour. The children used Fed as inspiration to create some adventure story books, which included moving pictures. Well done Year 3 on all your hard work. I am sure you will all be appearing on the nice list! Miss Allen, Year 3 Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 4
Festive Fun Year 4 have had a fun, but thoughtful introduction to this year’s Christmas season. Prompted by the Christmas advert “The Greatest Gift,” Year 4 have been considering the true meaning of Christmas. They had a mature and sensible discussion about what the most important aspects of Christmas are. They wrote a diary entry from the perspective of a stressed and exhausted father, who is under pressure to find the best presents for his family at Christmas time. The children came to the conclusion that, although it is lovely to give and receive gifts, the most important part of Christmas is sharing and being with the people you love the most. The children also really enjoyed partaking in the
Christmas craft workshops, where they rotated around the Upper Primary classrooms to create a lovely card, poem and gift. They sang along to Christmas songs as they worked away, as busy as in elves in Santa’s workshop. Merry Christmas everyone!
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Year 5
December Year 5 have been getting into the Christmas spirit over the past few weeks. Firstly, in preparation for the Winter Fair the students made fun, festive jars for tealights. The class of ‘Santa’s little helpers’ worked well and produced some beautiful pieces. They also worked hard on their ‘Bauble Toss’ game. We also had some star students performing in the Winter Fair, Celia and Poppy. We are very proud of both students. It was a magical first solo performance for Poppy. I hope to see many more. In Literacy, Year 5 and 5b6 students from Mrs Williams’ class wrote wonderful Christmas poems using Onomatopoeia. We have been studying poetry, particularly onomatopoeia, rhythm and rhyme in lessons, so we used our understanding of these to create evocative poems which bring the sounds of Christmas to life! In PSHE, Year 5 enjoyed Christmas circle time, where we discussed what we liked about Christmas and our family and Christmas traditions. It was wonderful to share our Christmas memories and heartwarming stories. In Art, we began making our beautiful Christmas wreaths, while in Cultural studies we recapped the story of Christmas. After all that festive fun we are ready for the holidays! Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas. Felices fiestas. Clare Williams Year 5 Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Year 5/6
Festive Teamwork Year 5/6 teamed up with Nursery to create some very beautiful tree decorations to sell at their Christmas Fair. The children in Year 5/6 showed Nursery how to roll out the special dough and helped them to carefully cut the dough with Christmas cutters. Year 5/6 showed great leadership skills and Nursery listened very well indeed. Thank you Nursery for working with us. Once baked in the oven (my house smells amazing) the children in Year 5 /6 carefully decorated them with glitter pens to create dazzling snowmen and sparkling trees. The decorations are made from cinnamon and applesauce...no other ingredients. They smell delicious and will make a great addition to your Christmas tree. They double up as a beautiful air freshener too and will have your home smelling of Christmas in no time. Well done Year 5/6 and Nursery, they look amazing.
Mr Anthony Year 5 /6 Class Teacher
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Spanish Lengua Castellana (Natives and Bilingual students) In the last week of school we have been preparing for Christmas in Spanish class. In Foundation Stage we have been learning and recapping vocabulary related to this topic, by playing fun games such as, miming, voices off, snap the board, etc. We also watched a short clip of the story of Nativity in class and learnt facts about it. Finally, students created their own Christmas cards, wishing “Feliz Navidad” to their beloved parents/family members. Our Primary students have been working enthusiastically in writing their own letters to the Three Wise Men, who cannot wait to read their amazing wishes. These letters were special as they could only ask for non-material things, such as love, peace, happiness, etc. Students put a lot of thought into this and wrote really touching wishes. Afterwards, they showed their creativity and made lovely Christmas cards. And finally, we cannot forget the amazing effort and time our students put into learning and memorising the lines for both Spanish carols “Noche de Paz” and “Mi burrito sabanero”, which they performed as great stars. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas/ Feliz Navidad and Happy New Year/ Feliz Año Nuevo. Miss Escribano Spanish Teacher
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Music
December
Music What a busy month we have had in the Music Department. From Christmas Carol concerts, performances in the Old Town and the Foundation Stage Christmas Cinderella performances, we have had fun doing it all. The BISM Christmas Carol Concert On Friday 2nd December, the whole school started the Christmas celebrations by performing some well-known classic Christmas songs. The Foundation Stage started with carol singing by candlelight, dancing and narrating parts of the Christmas story. In the afternoon, the Primary school performed some brilliant renditions, including `Step into Christmas´, `Last Christmas´ and `Fairytale of New York´. The children performed brilliantly and were a credit to the school. Well done! The Winter Fair There was a full line-up of talented entertainers wowing the audience at the Winter Fair. These included piano solos, vocal solos and duets and a fantastic debut performance by the BISM rock band. Well done to all performers involved. Christmas Cinderella It has been wonderful to work with the Foundation Stage on their performance of a Christmas Cinderella. The effort in the singing has been wonderful and the children have worked hard to learn all the different lyrics and melodies. The songs have been a mixture of Christmas songs and familiar pop songs related to the story. The children were particularly good at singing `You´ve got a friend in me´ as the finale. Again, well done to all performers who have worked so hard! Christmas Carol competition On Friday 16th December, performers from the Junior and Senior choir participated in the Christmas Carol competition that was hosted by Marbella Town hall. Junior choir sang first with `Walking in the Air´ followed by Senior choir´s rendition of `Feed the World (Do they know it’s Christmas)? Both choirs did excellently and won the `best vocal interpretation´category. It was a great trip out and thank you to all helpers.
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School Council
Christmas Present Collection This month, School Council thought about how they could help those less fortunate than them at Christmas. They decided that it would be lovely to collect Christmas presents for children who are helped by Hogar Betania, a non-profit organisation based in La Linea. The Council are so pleased with the response to the collection and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that donated a present. We hope that these gifts will help the children have a happy Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone! Miss Armstrong School Council Leader
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Special Event - Christmas Cinderella West End awaits for Foundation Stage starlets From the moment the show begun and the stage filled with the beautiful sounds of Foundation Stage singing ‘Little Donkey’ (ring out those bells everyone), it was clear this was going to be a performance to remember. The Foundation Stage Christmas Production is always a magical one with amazing songs and lots of resilience shown by a talented cast. And it was quickly clear this year’s production of Christmas Cinderella would be no exception. If anything, it was better than ever with more magic, mayhem and slapstick packed into the polished performance than seen before. The story stuck closely to the traditional fairytale with Cinderella living in poverty with her cruel stepsisters and destined to wed a royal prince. Jarvis was an absolute sweetheart as Prince Charming while Ms. Toro and Ms. Robles stepped up to the task of playing the cruel stepsisters. A lot of acting went into Ms. Toro and Ms. Robles roles as it is definitely no reflection of their beautiful personalities! Whereas Jarvis was made for the role of Prince Charming, the marvellous Matilde had us spellbound with her performance as the Fairy Godmother! I will never work out how she “magicked” up that fabulous dress for our very own Cinderella! I have been trying to turn my rags into riches with Matilde’s tongue twisting ‘bibbidi bobbidi boo’ but alas, I don’t have the knack! Dazzling Dominique had the audience captivated by her breathtakingly beautiful performance as Cinderella. She delivered her lines with such confidence she made it look easy, a performing star in the making. I must be sure to get my programme signed! Our narrators weaved the show together with their confident and strong delivery of line and, they should be extremely proud of their fantastic efforts in telling this Christmas tale. Ana and Mario were great guests at the ball and communicated how special Cinderella is and how cruel the stepsisters are. Well done to the both of you! Nursery are continuing to grow in confidence when on the stage. They have now had plenty of practise during the last few weeks and step up to the mark every single time. They enthusiastically told the story of Christmas Cinderella through song, dance and big smiles. We are all proud of their determination when learning the songs for this spectacular production and their engagement during the performance. And we cannot forget our super snowflakes! A huge achievement from our youngest children in the school, who came onto the stage to sing by themselves. They were truly fantastic, sung beautifully and looked amazing. I will be singing the snowflake song all through the festive season. Thank you for bringing this gorgeous song into our lives Pre-Nursery. A huge thanks and congratulations to all involved in the FS Production of Christmas Cinderella. A charming and glittery rags-to-riches show that was a real joy to watch and experience. In fact, it was so easy to sit back and have a ball! Happy Holidays! Miss Nixon Nursery Teacher
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Special Event
Christmas Carol Concert
The children of the Foundation Stage shined in their recent Carol Concert. The concert began with only four children on stage and with the school hall in darkness. The four children each in turn then sang a line from Away in a Manger before being joined on stage by all their friends who were carrying candles and singing along too. The children then sang Little Donkey and We Wish you a Merry Christmas before five Reception girls who have been attending Miss Condliffe´s dance club picked up the pace with a brilliant dance to Christmas Funk. The last song was in Spanish, Mi Burrito Sabanero and the children had once again shown what brilliant performers they are. Mr Holden Foundation Stage Leader
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